Customer Reviews

The Legend of the Syndicate: A History of Online Gaming's Premier Guild

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I found Legend: The Syndicate to be a very interesting read. As a veteran player of MMORPGs (massive, multi-player online role-playing games), beginning with Ultima Online 9 years ago, I found the UO parts to be a real walk down memory lane. Though I played on a different shard (server) than The Syndicate, Stalzer has captured the flavor of the epic role-playing battles I used to enjoy back in that game and today in World of Warcraft. He also gives a peek into the social aspect of online gaming that makes them so much more multi-dimensional than console gaming.

This book gives one an insight into what makes an online gaming guild and what it takes to make one great. It is recommended reading for anyone wanting to form an online gaming guild or enhance an existing guild. It will also give players an idea of what they should look for in a gaming guild.

I watched Discovery HD's Gamer Generation the other day and it got me thinking how these virtual worlds we inhabit are changing the way people communicate. This book gives one a glimpse into the world of virtual gamers. Not surprisingly, gamers are ordinary folk, who have discovered a form of interactive entertainment, which is far more engaging than television. It is facinating to see how this virtual world is beginning to mesh into real life, as online gamers meet at conferences like the annual guild conferences of The Syndicate.

While not an academic work, Legend: The Syndicate gives a personal account of online gaming and the guilds that inhabit it. I still think it will be useful for academics seeking insights into this new field of research. Those looking for a more statistical approach to the subject of online gaming should check out Nick Yee's Daedalus Project. http://www.nickyee.com/daedalus/.

This was a wonderful read for me. I am of the older generation of folks who got involved in gaming in the early 80's, and have played in many of the big MMOs mentioned in Legend: The Syndicate. I even recognize the Guild credo LLTS as their reputation has been discussed for years now.

As other readers have mentioned, this is an incredible guild story that talks about the evolution of online gaming over the last decade and how this guild weathered the storms and was able to not only persist, but to reach new levels of camaraderie and member participation rarely if ever seen; and certainly not over the span of better than a decade.

Use it as a handbook for guild formation and delivery. It provides the critical concepts of "people" and "process" for "results" in a virtual online community. It is obvious that with all of the momentum and achievement Stalzer has described about The Syndicate in the book, that much of that success has to point back to the Leadership that Sean Stalzer must demonstrate to his guild members as the Guild Master. It is also obvious that just like a successful Leader in business today, he has surrounded himself with key identities whom he can trust and rely upon.

The stories are rich with adventure and were a joy to read and imagine. I really liked this book and highly recommend it to anyone interested in gaming, online gaming, or online or virtual communities.

It's simply incredible! Stalzer takes you on a colorful journey through the roots of MMO gaming to what it has become today, Massive! He delves into guild life and the principles which warranted his guild's success as an online community rather than a typical guild. The Syndicate is truly a premier and the most renown MMO guild in history. This book is highly recommended to gaming enthusiasts, guildmasters, and naturally the online community whom wants to learn more about the history and MMO revolution through the Syndicate's perspective.

I just finished reading The Legend of the Syndicate and I thought I would take a bit of time out to pass along my comments. The book itself has many good facets to it. At the highest level, the book is a handbook for how to create a successful online gaming guild that will have the capacity to survive the test of time. In this mission, the book is highly successful. I felt that Sean Stalzer did an incredible job of explaining why he formed an online gaming guild, how he built his guild, how he adapted to a very quickly changing online gaming world, how he stuck to some very strong underlying principals and why other guilds typically fail.

At another level, the book is also a history of Stalzer's guild. I especially enjoyed finding out why Stalzer decided to originally form his guild as well as reading about some of his guild's early escapades in Ultima Online and EverQuest. I was around during the early days of UO and the Beta 3 and Beta 4 testing of EQ and I really got a chuckle remembering some of the silly problems Stalzer's guild had with pkilling, lag storms, bugs, crashes and the like.

On an even deeper level, the book is really about the strange twists and turns that the Internet has had on many people's lives. Stalzer's online gaming guild is a unique phenomenon, and is a direct by-product of the invention of the Internet. In other words, the Internet has created a medium for liked minded people to meet, form friendships, communicate and engage in a very unique activity (i.e. online gaming). Stalzer's guild was at the forefront of what would eventually become the Internet's world of online communities. The book does a great job of explaining how all this developed within his guild from the use of the originals dialup modems, his guild's involvement with the first online games, online recruiting, the development of online forums, community websites, chatting tools, online voice apps like Ventrillo, etc. It's amazing to think that Stalzer's guild was ahead of the Internet in all these areas. The book really drives this point home. It also drives home the point that this one of the things that contributed to his guild's success.

If you are into online gaming or are interested in finding out more information on this latest online gaming trend, you should definately get yourself a copy of this book. Its a great read!!

This was an enjoyable book that I found fascinating from cover to cover. It was interesting to see how an organization started, grew, and thrived in a period of revolutionary changes in online gaming and how that organization now seems to transcend the games in which it is involved. The book also gives important insights to the virtual societies, economies, and families that have been created beyond our real lives.

I would highly recommend this book not only to those involved and interested in online gaming, but also for anyone that would like a peek at the "overworld" that exists online.

The Legend of the Syndicate is a must read for anyone that plays online gaming, whether it be MMOs, FPSs, RTSs, or any other acronym I've yet to cover online where you can form clans/guilds/clubs etc.

Legend has such a smooth flow of wording and grasps the imagination where putting the book down is a hard thing to do, even when you may be late for work *raises hand*. The Storytelling is great and rich with detail from chapter to chapter, and not at any point in time seems watered-down at all. I was saddened to see the book end, but I feel there was a nuanced (sp?) "To Be Continued..."

My only complaint is not about the book, but the limit to the 5-star rating limit. (2 5-stars should make it a 10-star, aye?? )

Outside of the book, I will admit that this guild and family, as being a part of the legend for almost 6 years myself, I feel that my life has been made richer just by knowing this great group of people.

Its hard to believe that online gaming has been around for over a decade now, yet little has been written about it. It is about time an insider like Sean Stalzer has stepped up and helped fill the void. Though much of the book is based on his personal experiences in the gaming community, it also gives a broad picture of the development of the online gaming industry and how it has developed over the years. In addition, he tells of how he thrived in this new community by building the greatest guild entity online gaming has ever seen. This book is a must for anyone who plays online games, but most importantly, it is a must for anyone that is in a gaming guild, or aspires to create their own. It relates what principles a gaming guild must be based on if it is to last. This is a book long in coming, but finally it is here and written from a person that trully has an insiders view on the workings of the gaming community.

Great insight into a successful guild that has been apart of the revolution of online gaming.

This book was a very good read, it flowed nicely.If you are into any kind of gaming at all you should read this book. Even though it's mostly about the guild and the MMORPG's there are alot of short stories in it with some very good strategy's that would apply to most computer games.

I just finished reading this book and was amazed at how absorbed I was by it! Once I picked it up and started reading I couldn't stop. I thought I would only be interested with the Everquest and World of Warcraft related topics as those are games I play but I was happily surprised! Hearing first hand about the creation of a Guild and the trials and tribulations as they headed towards greatness was a great ride to be a part of! I recommend this for everyone in the gaming community whether you play Ultima Online, World of Warcraft, Everquest or not!